Are Dark and Frightening Story Worlds Inspirational? An Analysis of the Narrative Persuasion Process

Applying the widely accepted use of fear-appeals, we uncover the direct and indirect workflows of threatening narratives arousing story-related pros-social and health-conscious consumer reflections. Thus, we verify the debated importance of fear in terms of persuasion and contribute to the understanding of narrative persuasion mechanisms, whilst respecting main personality traits.